Processador AMD's UVC to combat Intel's Atom and VIA's Nano

There's no mistaking that Intel's Atom is where the ultra-portable action is, and VIA's impressive Nano has done little to impact Intel's netbook dominance.

Intel's other big-name rival, AMD, may have more luck with the launch of its Ultra-Value Client (UVC) solutions. According to the following leaked slides from CHW.net, AMD is lining up its Atom-offensive with a series of low-power, low-cost chips aimed at delivering a desktop-like experience in an el-cheapo system.

The two UVC processors revealed are the 22W 1.5GHz AMD Athlon X2 3250e and the 15W 1.6GHz AMD Athlon 2650e. The chips use the familiar AM2 socket for desktop use, but the slide reveals that similar models for AMD's mobile S1G1 socket are also available.

The chips will be OEM-only, and reports suggest that they'll reach the market as soon as December in systems from ASUS, Acer and Shuttle.

According to the slide, the chips will be paired with AMD's 65nm 740 chipset - so we can expect a single PCI-E slot in desktop configurations, or a DirectX 9 IGP in portable systems.

A second slide hints at AMD's marketing strategy; Intel's Atom provides a sub-traditional PC experience, and AMD hopes to rectify that with its more-capable UVC solutions.

AMD is aiming for markets looking for more performance than the Intel Atom

AMD is hard at work introducing new processors to try to capture market share from Intel. Earlier this week, slides showing some new AMD processors coming this year surfaced. Among the new processors on the slide was a line AMD is calling Ultra-Value Client (UVC).

The UVC processors will be available through OEMs only. More information on the line of UVC processors has now surfaced at CHW.net. The new slides show that the UVC processors are intended to allow OEMs to produce new computers in form factors optimized for emerging markets and basic PC usage.

AMD does specify that the UVC products are aimed at more than the netbook market and can deliver traditional PC performance. The UVC processors are intended to be paired with AMD's 690 and 740 chipsets for high-quality visuals.

All UVC parts will use AMD's standard socket AM2 and S1g1 notebook infrastructures. The UVC processors include the AMD Athlon X2 3250e with a 22W TDP and operating at 1.5GHz. It features a 1MB L2 cache and is planned to be available in Q4 2008.

The AMD Athlon 2650e has a 15W TDP and operates at 1.6GHz with 512MB cache. The 2650e is available now. According to AMD slides, it is positioning both the Athlon X2 3250e and Athlon 2650e above the Intel Atom DT 230 processor in performance.

These processors may become attractive to netbook makers looking for an alternative to Intel's Atom parts because of the current shortages of Atom parts from Intel. It is important to note that the AMD processors use more power than Intel's Atom. AMD is betting some users and OEMs will be willing to sacrifice battery life for improved performance.

We've learned much about AMD's low-cost PC strategy these past few days. A leaked roadmap gave us a glimpse at a pair of "Ultra-Value Client" Athlon processors last week, then a couple of days later, DigiTimes reported that those CPUs would soon hit Acer, Asus, and Shuttle systems.

Now, Chile Hardware has posted a couple of new slides that shed even more light on the subject. The slides mention the same Athlon X2 3250e and Athlon 2650e chips we already heard about, and they quote the same specs: 1.5GHz and a 22W TDP for the former, 1.6GHz and 15W for the latter. To that information, they add two new tidbits: cache sizes will be 1MB and 512KB, respectively, and AMD will pair both CPUs with its low-end 740 chipset.

The 740G already exists, and it's a lot less stripped-down than the Intel 945GC that powers desktop Atom systems. AMD outfits the 740G with Radeon 2100 graphics, DVI and DisplayPort support, PCI Express, RAID capabilities, and accommodation for plenty of USB and Serial ATA devices. Couple that with a proper, out-of-order CPU, and AMD could outrun Atom platforms from both the processing and graphics standpoints.

That said, Intel offers an all-in-one Mini-ITX motherboard and Atom CPU bundle for just $70, whereas the cheapest 740G mobo on Newegg today costs around $50. To really give Intel a run for its money, AMD might need some even cheaper 740G mobos with Mini-ITX form factors, and it may have to price the Athlon 2650e in the $30-40 range. Feasible? Probably so: the cheapest single-core Athlon at Newegg costs only $24.99 right now. (Thanks to TR reader Phil for the link.)